Hours of the Day
by walkthelineorcrossit
Summary: "Oh Mac, please don't be offended. I am not in any way questioning your masculinity."    Jo&Mac


This is my first CSI:NY story. I am still testing the characters to see if I can work with them. What do you think? Too bad? Too weird? Too OOC? If you have any tips to give me, please do feel free to share! If you think I should stop, feel free to share that as well. I don't mind.

ANYWAY, I owe nothing. As per usual.

_CSINY CSINY CSINY_

1 AM.

This was Mac's favorite time of the day. Everyone had already left the office to be with their families and he had finally some time to be on his own. Why didn't he go to his own place? Easy one. His house was full of memories that only made him feel more lonely.

This office was officially his sanctuary, the only place where he could breathe at ease. Yes, he was alone but he felt less lonely here for the building was still warm from the people that had been working there all day long, till around 8 PM.

Sitting on the chair behind his desk, he could see the main corridor and all those small lights from the thousand and one computers and other machines that had been turned off but not unplugged. Apart from those, the office was dark, illuminated by the lights that came from outside through the glass windows that surrounded the whole building.

If he didn't know better, he would say that this was the true meaning of peaceful atmosphere... but he knew there was something missing... the warmth of another human and the comfort of someone's company.

Mac leaned back on his chair and took a deep sigh as he closed his eyes for a moment.

He knew that when his mind started playing these games with him it meant that he needed to get home, have a strong drink and try to fall asleep from exhaustion. He got up and grabbed his jacket before putting it on and leaving his office, closing the door behind him.

He was on his way to the elevators when he started hearing music. He instantly raised an eyebrow and stopped on his tracks.

Had he been wrong? Was there actually someone in the floor besides himself?

As he followed the music, he started to think of all the people that had walked by his office and had stopped by to say that they were leaving and to tell him to go home and have some rest.

A sudden smile appeared on his face as he realized that a certain southern twang hadn't been acknowledged by his ears since the last case had been closed a few hours ago.

It _had _to be her.

But why would she be there? She had a daughter to go home to. It made no sense.

Silence had yet again filled the office. Had it all been an hallucination caused by the need of companionship? Or was it just the silence in between tracks?

As he walked into the office she shared with Lindsay he got ready to face disappointment.

But the vision he was graced with was everything but disappointing.

There she was, Jo Danville.

His smile grew larger, reaching his eyes that now rested on the apparently sleeping figure of Jo.

Of course she wouldn't leave without saying goodnight and threatening to call the police if he didn't go home.

She was lying on the couch she had bought to the office so that Lindsay's daughter could stay around and have her naps anytime she wanted. Her shoes were by the desk and there... the CD playing was definitely Sinatra.

As she was lying on her side with her back to the wall, Mac squatted by so that he could study her more closely.

He had to confess that he had never met anyone like Jo. She was one hell of a fighter and she didn't hide behind four walls. Actually, she was quite the opposite. When she wasn't feeling well about something work related, she wouldn't keep it quiet... instead, she would say exactly what was on her mind. She liked to keep it honest, or so had she once told him. She had an amazingly strong personality and stubbornness had never looked better in a human form.

She was different... less made of plastic, more connected to the world and to the people that surrounded her... That was probably why she was so good at what she did. And probably why she was scary good at reading him and noticing his mood swings.

He reached out to move a strand of hair from her eyes but his hands stopped less than an inch away from her face.

What if she woke up? Would he be able to deal with the awkwardness?

"You think too much..." He mumbled to himself before letting this fingertips touch her skin as he pulled the hair away from her face.

She looked so serene.

With the things they had both witness during the day, how could she remain so calm? How could she look so open to a world that kept hurting everyone when they weren't looking?

He sighed yet again and removed his jacket, putting it over her. He felt this need to protect her, even though he knew she was more than ready to defend herself and a thousand more people.

That thought made him chuckle.

And his chuckle made her giggle.

He raised an eyebrow and swallowed hard once he saw her opening her eyes.

What was he going to say? How was he going to explain? He had to come up with something and quickly.

She was looking directly into his eyes, a triumphant smile on her face.

"You know, you really do think too much." She broke the silent, her voice sounding huskier and her accent sounding thicker than usual, telling him that she had actually been asleep.

"Your mother never taught you that lying isn't nice?" He asked instead of retreating and coming up with a lame excuse.

Somehow she made him feel comfortable enough to stay and actually answer her.

"First, technically I wasn't lying." She said, covering her mouth as she yawned. "You could have called out for me but you didn't..." She said as she slowly sat up and turned around, bringing closer to each other.

He brought his hands to her knees and rested them there for support, their eyes finally meeting at the same level.

"Is there a second argument or is that the whole contribution you're giving for this discussion?" His right hand was now lightly tracing circles on her knee.

"Second, I thought you were being so adorably charming..." She added, bringing one of her hands to rest upon his right one before lacing their fingers together, not moving her eyes away from his. "Didn't want to ruin your role of playing the gentleman."

He brought their hands up to his face and titled his head to the side, resting his cheek against them as their elbows found support on her knee.

"Role? Are you saying I am not a gentleman 24/7?" He asked, not able to hide his amused voice tone.

"You are... but you also have to be so..." She replied, shrugging softly. "Tonight you didn't have to... you were because you wanted to be. It was cute."

"Cute? Did you just call me cute?" He took her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. "This is it, I am taking you home. You need to sleep. You are making no sense at all."

She couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.

"Oh Mac, please don't be offended. I am not in any way questioning your masculinity." She stood up with his help and gave him one her of seductive smiles as she brushed past him to grab her things.

He was almost 100% sure that she wasn't aware of how seductive and sexy she was because her every single movement seemed to be meant to enchant someone. Every single day he had to work with her and pretend he didn't notice...

Actually, at first he had thought she was actually doing it on purpose but after a few weeks he realized that that was just who she was... she exuded sexuality. It was as natural for her as breathing.

He watched her as she looked for her keys in the middle of the mess that she kept calling desk.

"Why aren't you home, anyway?"

Jo looked at him before reaching out for her screen and taking one of the post-its from there, putting it on his shirt.

"My daughter decided to ditch me for her best friend. As they don't have classes tomorrow or Friday, they are spending the long weekend together." She answered, finally finding her keys under the keyboard. "Apparently they are going to study." She added before taking a step closer to him so that they were standing face to face. "Mmmh, pink looks good on you."

"Oh, does it?" He took the post-it from his shirt and put it on her forehead. "I would say it goes very well with your skin tone." He joked.

"I am not really a pink gal but I will keep that in mind." She said with a wink, removing the post it and putting it in her jeans' back pocket.

"Maybe it's just your skin that goes well with everything and nothing." He only noticed what he had said when it was already too late to take it back. And so, instead of giving her time to answer, this time he was quicker and added, "Shall we?"

_CSINY CSINY CSINY_

I am still wondering whether to carry on or not. Help me choose? :)

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a review behind with your thoughts.


End file.
